Folks, here’s a bit more detail and pictures of our trip from Manzanillo to Playa Azul then to Patzcuaro. Jonathan has already said a lot so I will just fill in some details from our perspective. The Michocan coast line from Manzanillo to Playa Azul is as Jonathan said, breathtaking, with more beaches to explore than one has time in a lifetime. Almost every road on your right, traveling south, leads to a beach, some private and pristine with no one around and some with many people and activities. La Ticla was our first stop to meet up with Jason, Jonathan and Mike & Marianne. La Ticla is a surfers beach and there were lots of them. It was like condominium camping. Not our cup of tea. We stayed three nights while Jonathan & Mike checked the waves and the rest of spectated, walked the beach and fished, then we went exploring for other beaches. Back north first about ½ hour to Placita which was a great, quiet, long fine white sand beach. We could have had the entire place to ourselves. We however had lunch at a Palapa restaurant then decided to keep looking further south. We stopped at a few other beaches along the way that looked promising but finally chose to stay at La Manzanillera which is right next to El Faro. Very nice place with again hardly anyone around. There are a few casitias here to rent and a couple nice open places to park the campers overlooking the beach. We choose one that was next to some casitas that were empty and we had use of the showers and toilets for $2.50 each/night. The beach here was quiet steep and not all that good for swimming or surfing but we all did get in a bit just to get wet. I went fishing off the rocks and managed to loose three good lures before getting a nice fish in the morning which I had cooked for breakfast in the hill top Palapa restaurant. We were joined for breakfast at our table by the local parrot, see the pics in our photos and Jonathan’s pics. We left there and headed south again and eventually chose Maruata as our next campsite. We liked the place and camp so much we ended up staying four nights. Jeremy & Marion the couple from France with their ’76 Mex Combie bus they acquired in Moreila whom we had met in La Manzanilla showed up the second day we were there. We all ended up camping together. Jonathan & Mike managed to get out surfing a bit but it was not ideal surf. I had the canoe out among the rocks exploring and fishing. It was a great spot for that with many small coves and tunnels through the rocks to paddle. On the second day there the beach was invaded by Federales, four truck loads, two camps over from us. At first we thought there was drug smuggling during the night. Then a few hours later two Federale helicopters landed at the army base at the south end of the beach. Wow, now what ? Well, eventually we learned that it was the President of Mexico, Sr. Calderone, who had come to officially open the new hospital in Maruata, see the photos. Too bad we did not know of this until all the hoopla was over or we would have had more pics with the pres ! Meanwhile, Jonathan & Mike went about gathering parts and building a potato canon to shoot fishing lures out further than I could cast. I won’t get into detail here except to say it worked ! See Jonathan’s posts for complete details. While in Maruata we meet folks with Vanagon campers from Quebec and California, both we helped with some minor repairs. The Westy from California had an interesting modification, hydraulic struts on it’s poptop to help it up with the two kayaks on top. I took a photo you will see in the photo gallery. Eventually Mike & Marianne had to get back to La Manz to look after things there and Jonathan wanted to get on down the road to a place with a better Internet. Here it was slow and we could not connect our computers. So, off they went Wednesday morning leaving Rita & I alone for the first time since we’ve been on this trip. Thursday, Valentines day, was spent walking around and exploring Maruata then in the evening we shared a bottle of cream Tequlia with Jeremy & Marion who were still with us. Friday morning we packed up and left for Playa Azul stopping briefly at Nexpa to check on the Playa. It’s much built up since we were last there two years ago but the road in is still just as bad or worse. Surf was not good so not many surfers around. Lots of casitas for rent and would make a nice getaway place for a spell. We did not see any signs of Internet though as we had seen previously. Passing many more pristine beaches and breathtaking views we arrived in Playa Azul. A rather large beach town with many Mexican tourists. Streets are mostly paved and after driving around a bit we spotted another Vanagon Westy camped out in a beach front Palapa restaurant not far from the town centre. We stopped to inquire about getting in there and found neighbors from Perth, Ontario just ½ hour from us. Surprise – Surprise. They had recently bought their Westy and were enjoying it in Mexico for the first time. We moved in with them for $5 for the night with showers and toilets, good deal overall. The beach here is loooong with big waves, lots of nice sand and swimming, fishing and surfing is good. Very good Internet café in town also, with good high speed WiFi and we got our computer on line for a few hours. Saturday morning we went off to Lazaro Cardenas to find a bank, we were out of Pesos and needed supplies. Eventually we found the Sorianas and did all chores in one stop. Then we were on our way to Patzcuaro and decided to take the cuoata. No more topes, after having crossed at least a million of them since leaving Manzanillo it was a treat to not have to deal with them. The drive up the mountain to Patzcuaro is awesome, stark desert mountains covered in rocks and cactus interspersed by lakes created by hydro dams. We forgot to fill the gas tank before leaving and soon noticed the fule level low and no Pemex to be found. At the next tool booth we inquired and found someone selling fuel in 20 liter jugs. We were now good to go to the next Pemex in Nueva Italia. Nueva Italia. a good half way up the mountain, is in a farming valley town and the scenery now has turned lush with pine forest starting to show. The rest of the drive up the mountain became more spectacular eventually reaching Patzcuaro, elevation 7,150 ft. population 65,000, by late afternoon. After a drive around the narrow cobblestone streets of El Centro we found Villa Patzcuaro a Hotel and RV park nestled into a large open field near the centre of town. We got a spot for $16/night with endless hot water showers, first since Jacona, clean restrooms with toilet seats, imagine !, and good fast WiFi that works from our camper ! That’s were I’m at posting this ! One small problem here though – it’s bloody cold at night, dam near zero Celsius so we’ve been using the Propex heater ! One last comment, the Vanagon Camper has proven ideal for exploring the beaches of the Michocan coast. We were in and out of some pretty ugly roads if you can even call them that. Not sure any of the Eurovan based campers would make it. And, yes the solar panel, aux battery and portable WACEO electric fridge have proved to work just fine. That’s it for now and more on our visit to Patzcuaro in another posting.

Photos here > http://picasaweb.google.com/Frankcondelli/ManzanilloToPatzcuaro

Adios,

Frank, Rita & Hunter

Posted on February 18th, 2008 by FrankandRita
Filed under: Rita and Frank Condelli